4 watches we’re buying this year

We spotted these brand new beauties at the ongoing Baselworld 2015 and there's no going back now

The world’s largest and most important annual watch exhibition, Baselworld 2015, got going yesterday. We’re on the ground in Basel, Switzerland, and here are the timepieces kicking up a storm this year. Stay tuned for daily updates over the next few days.

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1. Louis Vuitton Escale Worldtime

Remember that beautiful Escale worldtime with a hand-painted dial that Louis Vuitton debuted last year? Thing is while it looked incredibly stylish, it was pegged at a steep price point of over $67,000. But in a master stroke, LV has unveiled an identical timepiece this year — the Escale steel worldtime — at less than a tenth of that cost for $5,600. How did they do it? Instead of a hand-painted dial, this one uses an imprint. Strap it on and we bet you won’t be able to tell the difference. This is, by far, the smartest $5K purchase you’ll make this year.

2. Zenith El Primero Openworked

The brand’s celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. A significant milestone for this Swiss watchmaker, it’s the El Primero range that has remained its most prolific. It’s technologically advanced and trusty movement have even been borrowed by other Swiss watchmakers for their timepieces too. This year, Zenith’s launched a series of new El Primero watches. But the sharpest is the Zenith El Primero Openworked wth a portion of the dial cut out to reveal that beating, bleeding gorgeous heart of a fine mechanical movement that truly deserves more credit than it gets. Here’s to another 150, Zenith.

3. Frederique Constant Horological Smartwatch

Much has been debated about how the Swiss watch industry will react to the smartwatch tsunami that’s expected to hit shore with the soon-to-launch Apple watch. Frederique Constant wasn’t biding its time. It quietly spent the last three years preparing for this day. At this year’s Baselworld, they’ve launched a Horological Smartwatch. It’s a nifty, dapper timepiece that can sync to your phone via Bluetooth and has an inbuilt accelerometer to track activities like the number of steps you take in a day to the number of hours you sleep at night. It feeds all that data into a dedicated app that can be accessed on your smartphone. Land in a new timezone, and just as your smartphone adjusts the time automatically to the local time when you switch it on, your watch too will via Bluetooth adjust its hands to match the time on your phone without you having to wind it. Plus, this quartz watch has a battery life of 2 years. Your turn, Apple.

4. Bvlgari

In 1975,the Bulgari brothers manufactured the brand’s first men’s novelty, the Bvlgari Roma, and offered it to its 100 favourite customers. So popular were those initial men’s offerings, that this Roman jeweller decided to begin manufacturing men’s watches as one of its core products and have been doing so ever since. This year the brand celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Bvlgari Roma. To celebrate, it’s unveiled this $24,500 Bvlgari Roma that’ll be limited to 100 pieces. And banish any thoughts of waltzing into the nearest Bvlgari boutique and ordering one. This is a by-invitation only timepiece where the brand will offer it for sale to its top 100 customers who have the first right of refusal. If they decline, the brand will work its way down that secret list and offer it to the next in line.

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